BYOB – Apolitical
Toronto begins in a few days and the movie coma will begin… no doubt, to the relief of many of you.
Here is some space to get the conversation moving in a movie direction…
April 25, 2024
BYOB
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” â some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it â I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury â he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” â and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging â I was with her at that moment â she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy namedâ” “Yeah, sure â you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that Iâm on the phone with you now, after all thatâs been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didnât seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereâs not a case of that. He wasnât using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had â if that were what the accusation involved â the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. Iâm not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, âYou know, itâs not this, itâs thatâ? Because â let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, thatâs what it lacked. Thatâs what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I have never felt as ashamed to be sitting in a movie theater as I did when I sat through the trailer for “An American Carol” this weekend. I couldn’t have felt more embarrassed if I’d been caught MASTURBATING to that stupid trailer. And I was already sitting there waiting for The House Bunny to start! So, my self respect wasn’t exactly brimming over to begin with (okay, not really. It’s a poorly made movie, but it had a lot of good in it too).
I saw Man on Wire yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fun, suspenseful, interesting character study, good cinematography, pretty much everything you want in a movie. And I didn’t realize until the credits rolled that it was from the same director as the terrific Wisconsin Death Trip.
OK, since it’s movies-only and I’ve been on good behavior for a bit, I think I am allowed this indulgence….
MAX PAYNE IS GOING TO OWN YOUR ASS. IT’S NOT JUST GOING TO OWN IT, IT’S GOING TO WHOLESALE OWN IT, COMMAND IT, AND BUY PROPERTY RIGHTS TO IT FOR THE NEXT EIGHT LIFETIMES.
Anyone who posts on this Blog and knows their shit AND sees that MAX PAYNE TRAILER can know only ONE THOUGHT: That is some serious LexG shit right there.
OCTOBER 17TH IS THE DAY, YO 08 IS MY YEAR, and if you’re not careful WAHLBERG IS COMING TO OWN YOUR ASS. That shit looks so fucking metal you should need to produce your iPod at the ticket window to prove you can handle some bad-ass hardcore fucking METAL OWNAGE like that.
And is that KUNIS I see OWNING and HOTTENING UP the trailer? Get on that shit, YEP YEP.
THE OWNING IS COMING, and it *drops* OCTOBER 17TH.
Prepare yourselves.
Alright, and one more for the road…
IS THERE ANYTHING WEIRDER THAN THE TMZ TV SHOW?
Harvey Levin acting all “hip” and holding court in the “newsroom” while those creepy and weird paparazzos “pitch” their stories and Levin all doubles over laughing; If you rubbed 15 of those fat, greasy creeps together, you might find 1/4 of a soul between them. What’s with Harvey looking and dressing HIP? What’s with the omnipresent CAFFEINATED BEVERAGE?
WHAT IS WITH THAT CHEESY STAFF, and why are they all such obvious douchebags?
PLEASE somebody here know what I’m talking about.
Everytime I see Harvey Levin on the tube I’m reminded of a friends short about a serial killer who only killers lawyers. The gag is nobody cares. In fact, the killer becomes a low-level celebrity. People stop him to shake his hand on the street; a little kids give him ice-cream while he drowns a lawyer in her plastic wading pool; Dateline does a fluff-piece about him, etc.
Quite funny.
Every-time I see Harvey in action, I’m reminded why.
“MAX PAYNE IS GOING TO OWN YOUR ASS. IT’S NOT JUST GOING TO OWN IT, IT’S GOING TO WHOLESALE OWN IT, COMMAND IT, AND BUY PROPERTY RIGHTS TO IT FOR THE NEXT EIGHT LIFETIMES.”
No it won’t.
Lex, I can only speak for myself but I think about you about as much as I care for the politics here atm (ie; nil) and never once watch a trailer and go “aah yes, Lex will like that!”
How about the reviews trickling out of Venice, Telluride and the like?
Slumdog Millionaire-As a huge Danny Boyle fan, I’m thrilled this flick is getting what seem to be the biggest raves of the early season. Todd McCarthy, not one for overstatement, calls it a “blast” in an all out rave, and that consensus seems to be widespread so far…
Rachel Getting Married-Well DP, you may get your Christmas present early. Levy gives it very good reviews….ample praise to Irwin’s performance especially.
The Duchess-Not surprisingly, reviews are saying it’s style over substance (a letdown given the source material) though Knightley supposedly gives a solid performance.
Burning Plain-Reviews seem to be leaning toward wildly positive, some calling it the awards frontrunner at Venice. A minority (Variety included) say it kind of sucks and is overwrought….
As for Max Payne, looks intriguing but so did the trailer for Hitman last year. Anyone else cautious about the fact Fox is releasing a fantasy and videogame adaptation (City of Ember and Max Payne) almost exactly a year after another fantasy and videogame adaptation? (Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Hitman)
Given that last year’s flicks were, to put it nicely, catastrophic, I’m going to hold off and wait for reviews.
Lex, what little I’ve seen of the TMZ is, no joke, probably the television program I hate the most. My girlfriend sleeps better with TV or music on for low-level noise, so we often put on Fox, which shows Seinfeld and Simpsons reruns around when we go to bed. But if I get caught up in an episode and don’t fall asleep before 12, when TMZ comes on — or even if I’m half-asleep at that point — I have to reach for the remote, even if I’m not looking at the screen and the volume is down to a low hum. The slimy yet insanely self-satisfied jackal-pack vibe puts me on edge, and not in an interesting way. I can’t think of anything that has given me such a negative reaction with so little exposure.
Uh, yeah. “Slumdog Millionaire” is not only a “blast,” it might be a masterpiece. I need to see it again to say for sure… but yeah. Holy crap.
Nobody has anything to say about Don LaFontaine? In a world without Don, I weep.
I saw Traitor. Pretty dullsville. Needed more bombs going boom or deeper political intrigue. Maybe we’re all just more sophisticated now. I wonder if I were Clear & Present Danger now for the first time would it be as impressive.
Here’s my real gripe. $9 “bargain” matinee price as AMC Century City. Nine Dollars, are you kiddin’ me?! I wonder what those 9:30 Sat morning showings are costing now. I’ve been getting the discount passes, which are $8 each. Before I’d only use them at night to make me feel like I’m really getting my money’s worth. Now, pffff, who cares. It’s not like it’s at critical mass for me but crap it’s getting there.
That TMZ show is ridiculous. It’s funny because I usually stop when flipping around and watch a few mins then like, slap myself upside the ehad and say “dude…what are you DOING!?!?!”
Anyone see that STRINGERS:LA show? Anyone see my first short doc, the award winning STRINGERS? Anyone know any good lawyers or if I have a case? đ
“I have never felt as ashamed to be sitting in a movie theater as I did when I sat through the trailer for “An American Carol” this weekend. I couldn’t have felt more embarrassed if I’d been caught MASTURBATING to that stupid trailer.”
And not one comment calling you on this. If I make a similar comment about a film like Che the threads light up.
Then all of a sudden its “you can’t judge a film before having seen it”.
Just sayin’.
The chick in BABYLON AD OWNS YOUR ASS.
MELANIE THIERRY, KNOW.
Nicol: Seriously, have you seen the trailer? Politics aside, it looks positively ghastly. Like, Postal ghastly. Like, sub-par Troma Pictures ghastly. The Righties will do themselves no favors with this one.
Joe,
Actually Joe I have not seen the trailer. As for sub-par Troma Pictures…well similar things were said about Mel Gibson’s last two flicks and he’s probably one of the more cutting edge directors out there now.
Is it worse than something by Kevin Smith?
That’s pretty Troma level too…and he has major budgets to play with.
Nicol, have you seen any recent Troma movies?
Anyone who said either of Mel Gibson’s last two movies resembled them is an idiot.
Also, I think nobody is commenting re: American Carol because nobody (a) has seen the trailer, or (b) cares.
Excuse me, but who in his/her right mind could compare something as visually stunning as Apocalypto to Troma? Hell, wasn’t Passion of the Christ Oscar-nominated for its cinematography?
Joe, Jeff,
Read some of the early stories and reviews on The Passion when all was seen was a trailer. Hell read some of the reviews after it first came out.
It was called incompetant, a mess etc.
In Toronto, the Star critics Pevere and Howell gave it 1 and zero star reviews saying it was one of the worst things they had ever seen.
They later had to write a follow up article because it was so painfully obvious to readers that they were letting political bias come in.
I am just sayin’ An American Carol may be crap…the trailer may be crap…but you can’t be a hard core leftist and expect to have objective cred when critiquing a film like this anymore.
That’s the price of being a hard political partisan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-VrRdzCs_U
Eh, aside from the now-typical Voight prosthetic nuttiness, the cameo from O’Reilly, and the pandering heartland-country music element, doesn’t look much different style or content-wise from umpteen other Zucker/”…Movie” spoofs.
And jeff and Joe beat me to it, but even Gibson’s biggest detractors would likely give props to his visuals and the totality of his vision. Guy is a seriously committed filmmaker.
But this does seem like the kind of thing that the Nicols will talk up and promote and defend on ideological grounds, despite its probable obvious lameness, sort of like a Christian network pumping up some treacly sub-Lifetime flick just because its intentions are good.
How about a link instead of your phantom memories.
That was to Nicol, not Lex.
Eric, I just blogged about Don’s tragic passing. Such a shame.
http://brandonsbuzz.com/2008/09/02/he-ceased-but-left-so-charming-on-their-ear-his-voice/
Nicol: Well, I had some problems with Passion, but I think I treated it fairly:
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsChrist.htm
I’m with you, Eric. The first time I hear a non-Don “In a World” will be as sad as the first time I heard a non-Henson Kermit the Frog.
There may have been comments like that made about Gibson’s films, but they were certainly fringe and minority opinions. Few can deny that both films (let’s go ahead and leave MAN WITHOUT A FACE out of the canon) show a strong filmmaking talent. In fact, and I mean this as the highest compliment, I wish he’d go all-in and make a horror movie. The Satan portions of POTC and the little girl in APOC show me that he could pull off the creepy and most likely bring home the big scares if he put his mind to it. And we could really use a masterful home-grown horror movie right now.
AMERICAN CAROL may look look like latter Zucker and/or Abrahams work to be very kind. But it looks nothing close to their glory days and compares more readily with the DISASTER/DATE/EPIC MOVIE films. Just based on the trailer. Maybe they held back the funny stuff as a surprise. (And I’d say CLERKS and DOGMA had funnier trailers, despite what you may think of the final product. But trying to beat Kevin Smith at fimmmaking is a little like trying to beat a wheelchair-bound grandma at basketball.)
R.I.P. Jerry Reed.
No film with Bill O’Reilly as himself can be good.
I think there’s an actual mathematical equation for it in the books.
I just looked in the mirror and found an acupuncture needle sticking out of my skull. Next time I see my doctor, I’m gonna ask her about her eyesight.
I finally saw Passion when an acquaintance stuck the DVD in my hand and insisted I watch it. Gibson is as competent as, say Redford or Howard. But there was one weird, glaring error that’s so blatant I thought it might have even been intentional: during the “thirty pieces of silver” scene, when the bag is tossed to Judas,the axis is crossed, and it’s suddenly flying in the wrong direction. Could be it’s supposed to convey dislocation or upheaval, but it’s very clumsy.
Here’s an interesting thread on the passive-aggressive expression “I’m just sayin'”:
http://www.painintheenglish.com/post.php?id=958
Some highlights for anyone who lacks the time to read the thread:
“It’s really an attempt to make an end run an extremely weak argument to make the declarant’s point good in the face of overwhelming impeaching evidence or argument. The person using this term doesn’t have to or want to invest any amount critical thinking skills and logic to support their position. I’d be dismissive of that type of person as being an academically dishonest cretin.”
“It seems akin to the prepositive use of “I’m not a racist but…,” just before the expression of an altogether racist sentiment.”
“It’s a cop out: a trial balloon. I won’t speak from conviction because I don’t want to offend anyone and I really don’t have convictions. Those are too damn dangerous’ someone might not like me. But there again, I’m just saying…”
Does anyone really use this anymore, and does anyone here think it’s the sort of expression one might employ in an attempt to sound more “American”?
Not there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just sayin’…
Frank: ey.
Yeah, that “just sayin'” thing was pretty cute the first couple hundred times Paul Reiser used it on “Mad About You,” but I’ve never understood why it’s suddenly become so ubiquitous in the blogosphere.
I second Lex’s R.I.P. for Jerry Reed. Go and search youtube for “Amos Moses” pronto. Great stuff.
Hallick, I can understand someone thinking that “An American Carol” looks pretty lame based on that trailer, but why were you ashamed and embarrassed? Are you a conservative who thinks this film will set back the cause? Or a former ZAZ fan who thinks the mighty parodist has fallen far? A proud American who thinks the trailer reflects poorly on his country? I’m not being snarky here, I’m genuinely curious.
Update because you care:
MILA KUNIS = MEGAOWNAGE.
THE PAYNE IS COMING, AND MILA IS GOING TO OWN YOUR ASS. WAIT SHE ALREADY DOES.
When that MAX PAYNE TRAILER comes on and they break with the MARILYN MANSON OWNAGE, I want to start a fucking pit in the front of the theater. If you don’t start to shake and want to immediately OWN SHIT when you see the PAYNE TRAILER, you are NOT METAL.
Oh fucking hell. Max Payne is easily one of the stupider movies to come down the pike. It’s one thing to have Constantine be Constantine but did we need a freakin MAX PAYNE SEQUEL OF CONSTANTINE? IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE! IT’S JUST FUCKING SENSELESS! FUCK THIS FILM AND IT’S STUPID FUCKING SENSE OF DRAMA!
It’s funny when they fight.
IO…
WROOOOOONG! When that Marilyn Manson ownage kicks in on that trailer, you and everyone else better step to and START HEAD BANGING and give up the devil horns, because you are GETTING OWNED.
WAHLBERG IS THE FUCKING SOLID GOLD STAMP OF OWNAGE and NEVER lets you down. He is GOD. Then throw in THE HOTNESS THAT IS KUNIS and the fact that it’s shot in the 2.35:1 ASPECT RATIO and is METAL AS HELL and you are getting ruled, commanded, bought, paid for and OWNED TO HELL AND BACK.
I literally start SHAKING WITH INTENSITY AND EXCITEMENT every time I see that trailer, giddy at the possibilities for new ways for something to rule.
WAHLBERG IS YOUR LORD. BOW.
I can just see fourteen-year-old kids sitting next to their friends in The House Bunny or wherever Lex saw that trailer and pointing to him sitting by himself and rocking out and just pointing and laaauuughing.
Before Mirrors and Babylon AD, son.
And when that trailer dropped everyone was like “Fuck yeah that’s going to OWN!”
Even Obama would start up a pit to this trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNbzbWrXWiY
Did you get that Fred Durst was putting on Tom Green?
DURST.
Durst what? Don’t leave us hanging.
No new BYOB of late, so might as well bump:
STRANGE DAYS is on one of the HBOs, and GODDAMN does this movie OOOOOOOWN. This was on my Best of 95 list but for whatever reason I haven’t thought of it ONCE in the last 11 or 12 years.
JULIETTE LEWIS is OWNAGE in this movie. They need to get the fuck back on that VIRTUAL REALITY shit. It would OWN to put on those goggles and get to have interactive cybersex with holograms of FAMOUS SMOKING HOT CHICKS.
I WOULDN’T LEAVE THE HOUSE.
GET ON IT, AMERICA.
I will vote for whichever president promises to bring back the VIRTUAL REALITY MOVEMENT and gives me my simulated sex with famous hotness.
Know.
katheryn bigelow rocked (past tense, i guess; she made some stinkers and now it would appear her shining star has faded. maybe she should re-team with the ex-hubby)
It’s a good movie, too bad it craps out in its last scene into cliche overdrive.
i don’t really dig ‘strange days’, i find it a bit misogynistic (esp. for a cameron-penned piece) and silly, but bigelow certainly rocks it along at a fair clip with interesting visuals, and angela basset kicks major booty